Pancakes
by Legendary Swordsman
Summary: Hot, sticky, and oh so fluffy. Pancakes. A vignette.


Samus was drumming her fingers on the maple colored edges of the table again. She sat with her eyes closed, tuning in to the quiet chattering nearby and the rustling of Adam's newspaper as he thumbed through the boring pages of the _Galactic Times_ across from her in their small booth simply because she had nothing better to do. Fifteen minutes had passed since they had placed their orders and received their drinks, yet no food was in sight. She lightly gnawed on a clear plastic straw after realizing her glass of orange juice was empty.

Five more minutes had ticked away, and Samus was now occupying herself by rolling her table set back and forth along the length of the table. Her stomach rumbled and reminded her it needed sustenance soon, yearning loudly for its morning breakfast. She clutched her side to silence its embarrassing moans and stole a quick glance at Adam, who was apparently engrossed in some article and thus failed to notice neither her nor her growling belly. By now though, Samus was about ready to march over to the front desk and give some sharp feedback to the manager for the long wait for seating and food but instead spotted a vulnerable mug across the table. Samus looked back at her empty glass and quickly settled on chugging a good chunk of Adam's coffee, which caused him to lower his newspaper and raise an eyebrow at her. Instantly, a small shiver ran up her spine at the bitter taste, but that didn't stop her from taking another sip. She then looked up to see Adam shaking his head with an amused expression before he went back to reading. The taste suited him, she mused, bitter and strong. With little else to do, Samus huffed and folded her arm on the table, burying her face into the crook of her elbow and muffling the sound of Adam's chuckling at her behavior.

After a few moments, she heard the faint giggling of their waitress and immediately lifted her head to see the woman giving them odd looks. Samus would have none of this woman's ridiculous assumptions - whatever they were - and snorted in reply, despite Adam's warning look. When the aroma of sweet fried batter filled her nose, however, Samus had completely forgotten about their waitress. Samus eyed the two fresh plates of traditional pancakes, the new pot of hot coffee next to Adam's cup, and the fresh glass of squeezed orange juice from a carafe that was gingerly set before them. The scent of the crispy hotcakes was welcoming to her hungry stomach; her mouth began to water as she unraveled her utensils from the white napkin.

She reached towards the center of the table for the rack of syrup jars packed neatly against the wall. Her hand quietly glided over the four assorted flavors: the furthest bottle away from her was labeled "old fashioned" and was topped with a simple brown lid; next was the purple capped "boysenberry;" then there was "blueberry;" and last of all there was "strawberry." Her fingers hovered hesitantly over the bottle of boysenberry, until she decided today was as good of a day as any to try the strawberry syrup. Besides, boysenberry sounded poisonous to her, or at least to her taste buds. Samus snatched the red jar and began pouring its sweet sap over her fluffy breakfast.

She stole a quick glance at Adam to see which jar he had picked.

"Really, Adam? Aren't you even a _little_ adventurous?" she said and realized that she was still pouring syrup out of the bottle.

"What? I'm old fashioned." he replied, drizzling the brown maple syrup over his food more attentively than she had.

Raising his eyes, he saw Samus brooding over her now drowned pancakes. Adam then arched a brow at her silly attempt to resuscitate the pancakes. However, judging by the new coat of syrup she had layered on the stack of hotcakes, she had to face the fact that there was little hope for them now.

"My pancakes..."

Samus stared silently at her plate for a moment, earning a mildly curious stare from Adam. She watched as the strawberry mess oozed from the top of her pancakes where it pooled at the bottom of her round plate. It didn't look nearly as appetizing now, because she could smell the sugary scent of the syrup. With a slight pout, she pushed her plate aside towards the wall, clearing the space in front of her. Adam watched her and responded by casually resting his arm in front of his pancakes and pulling his plate closer to his side of the table.

"No, Samus." he anticipated her move and guarded his pancakes, "You can't have mine."

She leaned back against her green cushioned chair in response, and quipped while pulling her plate back, "I'm not old fashioned anyways," and used her knife to scrape the excess syrup off the top.

"True," he nodded in between bites, "But you're not the one eating delicious pancakes now are you?"

Samus frowned and grudgingly began cutting her pancakes into small, triangular pieces. She started eating her "too sweet" golden pancakes with trails of syrup dripping from each slice. The sap dribbled down her chin, messily dripping back onto the white plate or onto the tan table. She heard Adam suddenly shift in his seat followed by a soft, muffled slither of a napkin coming to dab at her lips. He shook his head and continued eating, thoroughly amused.

After getting through the first of three layers though, the syrup turned out not to be too much of a problem, she realized. The syrup eventually evened out and she was hungry enough to not be so bothered by it. To her, anything was a nice change of pace from the usual morning grub. She figured, everything seemed to taste better when she was hungry.

She chewed and swallowed each fluffy morsel bit by bit, shoving more of the sticky pancakes into her mouth as soon as it was empty; and in no time, her plate was clean and her belly was full. Samus slowly licked her strawberry colored lips clean, watching as Adam, too, finished his breakfast. She was finished - and by the looks of it - Adam was as well, almost. He was polishing off the last few pieces of the fluffy batter, using small bits to mop up the syrup on his plate all while watching her with an amused smile. She was surprised and a bit embarrassed that she managed to scarf down everything before he did.

"Still hungry?" he asked, chuckling at the mess she managed to create despite having such a large plate and plenty of napkins.

"Thirsty," she simply replied, taking another swig of hot black coffee to wash it all down. She sighed, at last content.

She heard Adam sigh too, but she saw the corner of his lip pull up into a lopsided smile before he picked up the morning news, continuing where he had left off. Samus looked up and returned his smile before taking another sip of his coffee.

"This is good." she smiled in kind.


End file.
